THE LORD YOUR GOD.

Our great consolation in the worst times lies in our God. The very name of our covenant God -"The Lord thy God "-is full of good cheer. That word, "The Lord" is really Jehovah, the self- existent One, the unchangeable One, the ever-living God, who cannot change or be moved from His everlasting purpose. Children of God, whatever you have not got, you have a God in whom you may greatly glory. Having God you have more than all things, for all things come from Him, and if all things were to be blotted out, He could restore all things simply by the power of His will. He speaks, and it is done, He commands, and it stands fast. Blessed is the man who has the God of Jacob for his trust, and whose hope Jehovah is. In the Lord Jehovah we have righteousness and strength, let us trust Him forever. Let the times roll on, they cannot affect our God. Let troubles rush upon us like a tempest, but it shall not come nigh unto us now that He is our defence. Jehovah, the God of His church, is also the God of each individual member of it, and each one may therefore rejoice in Him. Jehovah is as much your God, my brother, as if no other person in the universe could use that covenant expression. O believer, The Lord God is altogether and wholly your God! All His wisdom, all His foresight, all His power, all His immutability, all that He is, is yours. As for the church of God, when she is at her lowest estate she is still established and endowed in the best possible sense, established by the divine decree, and endowed by the possession of God all-sufficient. The gates of hell cannot prevail against her. Let us exult in our possession. Poor as we are, we are infinitely rich in having God, weak as we are, there is no limit to our strength, since the almighty Jehovah is ours. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" If God be ours, what more can we need? Lift up thy heart, thou sorrowful one, and be of good cheer. If God be thy God, thou hast all thou canst desire, wrapped up within His glorious name we find all things for time and for eternity, for earth and for heaven. Therefore in the name of Jehovah we will set up our banners, and march onwards to the battle. He is our God by His own purpose, covenant and oath, and this day He is our God by our choice of Him, by our union with Christ Jesus, by our experience of His goodness, and by the spirit of adoption whereby we cry " Abba, Father."

ALL THINGS WORKING FOR GOOD.

Christ is the arbiter of all events, in everything His sway is supreme, and He exercises His power for the good of His church. He spins the thread of events and acts from the distaff of destiny and does not suffer those threads to be woven otherwise than to the pattern of His loving wisdom. He will not allow the mysterious wheel to revolve in any way which shall not bring good unto His chosen. He makes their worse things blessings to them, and their best things He sanctifies. In times of plenty, He blesses their increase, in times of famine, He supplies all their needs.
As all things are working for His glory, so all things are working for their good.

"SO"

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD. That love of God is a very wonderful thing, especially when we see it set upon a lost, ruined, guilty world. What was there that God should love it? no fragrant flower grew in that arid desert, enmity towards Him, hatred of His truth, disregard for His word, unthankfulness, these were the thorns and briars which covered the waste land, no desirable thing blossomed there. Yet, God loved the world says the text so loved it that even the writer of the book of John could not tell us how much, but so greatly, so divinely did He love it that He gave His Son, His only Son to redeem the world and to gather out from it a people to His praise.
Whence came that love? Not from anything outside of God Himself, He loves because it is His nature to do so. God is Love. As I have already said nothing upon the face of the earth could have merited His love, though there was much to merit His displeasure. This stream of love flows from it's own secret source in the eternal Deity and it owes nothing at all to any earth-born rain or rivulet, it springs from beneath the everlasting throne. God loved because He would love. He has so much love that He must needs let it flow forth to a world perishing by it's own wilful sin. And when it flowed forth it was so deep, so wide, so strong, that even inspiration could not compute it's measure and therefore The Holy Spirit gave us that great little word SO and left us to attempt it's measurement, according as we perceive the love of God more and more.

What The Holy Spirit Does.

"He shall recieve what is Mine and He will shew it unto you"
The Holy Ghost then deals with the things of Christ. How I wish that all Christ's ministers would imitate The Holy Ghost in this respect! When you deal with the things that are of Christ you are on Holy Ghost ground and following in His tracks. Does The Holy Ghost deal with science? science is just another name for the ignorance of men. Does The Holy Ghost deal with politics? politics is just another name for every man getting as much as he can from the nation. The Holy Ghost will leave you if you go gadding about after these insignificant trifles! He will leave you if you aim at magnifying yourself and your wisdom and your plans because He is taken up with the things of Christ. I like what Mr Wesley said to his preachers "leave other things alone, you are called to win souls." The Holy Ghost who is our teacher will own and bless us if we keep to His line of things. Oh beloved what canst thou recieve so precious as the things of Christ? therefore follow ye The Holy Ghost and deal in the things that are of Christ.
Next The Holy Ghost deals with feeble men. "He shall recieve what is Mine and shew it unto you." He is not above dealing with simple minds. He comes to those who have no training, no education and He takes the things of Christ and shows it unto them. The greatest mind of man that was ever created was a puny thing compared with the infinite wisdom and knowledge of God Most High, so for The Holy Ghost to come and teach the little mind of man is a great condescension, we see this even more when we read "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called" and when we hear The Saviour say "I thank Thee o Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes" The Lord Jesus might have selected princes to be His apostles, He might have gathered 12 of the greatest kings who ever lived, or at least 12 senators of Rome, He did not do so. He took fishermen and men and women from that class to be pioneers of His kingdom. And God The Holy Ghost takes the things of Christ, high and sublime though they are and shows them unto such as these were, people ready to follow where He would lead them and to learn the things He that taught them.

DO AS THOU HAST SAID

God's promises were never meant to be tossed aside like waste paper, He intended that they be used. God's gold is not miser's money it is minted to be traded with.
Nothing pleases Our Lord better than to see His promises being put into circulation, He loves to see His children bringing them up to Him and saying "Lord do as Thou hast said."
We glorify God when we plead His promises.
Do you think that God will be any the poorer for giving you the riches He has promised? Do you dream that His holiness will be any the less for sharing it with you? will He be any less pure for washing you from your sins? He has said come now and let us reason together saith The Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Faith lays hold of the promise of pardon, it goes straight to the throne of grace and pleads "Lord here is the promise, do as Thou has said." He will reply "be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
When the child of God grasps the promise and hastens to the throne of grace with it and cries
"Lord I have nothing to recommend me but this " Thou hast said it" his desire shall be granted.
Our heavenly Banker delights to cash His own notes.
Never let the promise rust. Draw the sword of promise out of its scabbard and use it with holy violence.
Don't think that God will be troubled by your importunity in reminding Him of His promises, He loves to hear the loud outcries of needy souls, it is His delight to bestow favors He is more ready to hear than you are to ask.
The sun is not weary with shining, nor the fountain with flowing. It is God's nature to give,
He will keep His promise. Therefore go at once to Him with this petition "Do as thou hast said."

STRONG IN FAITH

Christian, take good care of your faith for remember faith is the only way whereby thou canst obtain blessings. If we want blessings from God, nothing can fetch them down but faith.
Prayer cannot draw down answers from God's throne except it be the earnest prayer of the man who believes.
Faith is the angelic messenger between the soul and The Lord Christ in glory, if that angel be withdrawn we can neither send up prayer nor recieve the answers.
Faith is the invisible telegraph wire which links earth and heaven on which God's messages fly so fast that before we call, He answers, and while we are yet speaking He hears us. But if that telegraph wire is cut, how can we recieve the promise? Am I in trouble? I can get help for trouble by faith, Am I beaten about by the enemy? I can find refuge beneath the wings of faith, but take faith away and in vain do I call to God, for there is no path betwixt my soul and heaven.
Faith links me to the great King and clothes me with the power of God. Faith engages on my side the all-powerful Jehovah, it ensures every attribute of God most high in my defence and enables me to defy the host of hell. Faith makes me to march triumphantly over the necks of my enemies. But without faith I can recieve nothing from my Lord. Let not him that wavereth-who is like a wave of the sea-expect that he will recieve anything from The Lord.
So then beloved watch well thy faith for with it thou canst win all things, however poor you are,
but without it, though thou be the wealthiest man in England, thou canst obtain nothing.
If thou canst only believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.